List of Reasons Aqualad is a Boss
by sjohn2999
Summary: The team realizes how much of a boss their leader is.  The title is pretty self explanatory.


**A/N: These characters do not belong to me.**

**I think that Aqualad is pretty much a boss, and I thought it would be fun to have his teammates realize it too. Here's a little Kaldur appreciation.**

_**List of Reasons Aqualad is a Boss**_

_List of Reasons Aqualad is a Boss_

_He's Atlantean._

_Anyone from Atlantis is cool. They can breathe underwater. How sweet is that? Pretty darn awesome, let me tell you._

_He's always grammatically correct._

_His English is always perfectly executed. I don't think I've ever heard him use a contraction. Only he is cool enough to pull off talking like that. The rest of us would just sound stupid and overly formal. I would know. I tried it once. It didn't last very long. Within the first ten minutes my parents asked what was wrong with me._

_He has white hair._

_No one has naturally white hair, except Aqualad and old people. They're the only ones that can pull it off. He does it better._

_He's electrifying._

_Literally. He can shock people anytime he wants. He doesn't even have to shuffle his stocking feet on the floor for a few minutes beforehand like the rest of us. He's so powerful he could probably make some toast without plugging the toaster in. He's pretty much a human power plant. Bet that cuts down on the electrical bill._

_His voice._

_I don't mean this in a creepy way. I just mean that his voice is soothing. It so relaxing that he could use it as a sedative if he tried. It's kind of like a mix between a cool announcer voice and those deep singing voices in Motown love songs from the 60s._

"What are you writing?"

Wally looked up in surprise. He had not heard Superboy approach. How could such a huge guy be so silent? Covering his shock, Wally casually attempted to move the paper he was writing on out of his friend's view. "Nothing," he said, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to get a snack. That's what one usually does in the kitchen," Superboy replied.

"Right," Wally said. He silently watched the clone make himself a sandwich, hoping he had forgotten about the mysterious paper.

"So can I read it?" Superboy asked through a mouthful of roast beef on rye.

"No," Wally said in an unnecessarily defensive tone.

Taking in his tone with surprise, Superboy swallowed and told Wally, "If you don't let me see it, I'll just use my x-ray vision to read through the paper."

Superboy watched as Wally debated with himself. Apparently he decided against putting up a fight. Too much effort. With a sigh, he slid the paper across the counter toward Superboy.

Taking another bite of his sandwich, Superboy read though the list as Wally watched him with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. No one was supposed to see the list. At least Superboy had not walked in on him writing his List of Reasons Superboy is Missing Out by Refusing to Wear Spandex.

Taking Wally's pen out of his hand, Superboy sat on the stool next to Wally and wrote:

_He has some serious moves._

_The guy knows how to improvise when sparring. It's like he's one with his water weapon things. They change as quickly as his thought process, and he always knows the best shape to make. It's amazing to watch. Just don't let yourself get too distracted, those things hurt when they hit your head._

"Good one, man," Wally told him as he read Superboy's addition. Then, he gave the

clone a questioning look, "Do you even have x-ray vision?"

Too absorbed in his sandwich to bother looking at Wally, Superboy answered simply, "No."

Wally continued to look at Superboy for a moment before shaking his head and muttering, "Fooled by the equivalent to an eight-month-old baby. How embarrassing. Good thing Rob's not here. He'd never let me live it down." Wally ignored Superboy's chuckles and turned back to his list. "Needs more," he told himself.

"What needs more?"

Wally looked up to see M'gann and Artemis walk in the kitchen.

Throwing his hand up exasperatedly, he asked the ceiling, "Can't a guy just write a list in peace?" Not wanting to go through the same explanation process, Wally shoved the paper in their direction and crossed his arms as they both leaned in to read it.

When she had finished reading, Artemis held her hand out for the pen and said, "As weird and slightly creepy as this is West, it's not a half bad list. You're right though, it needs more." Then she added:

_He has incredible hearing._

_No one I know has the ability to hear things that don't make noise, like looks, for example. Somehow, however, Aqualad can hear glares. That is a serious skill._

She pushed to paper back to Wally, who surprisingly did not comment on her writing on his list like he would have under any other circumstances. He was still surprised that she had said he was right. Wally was rudely awakened from his astonished stupor when Robin suddenly appeared at his side, grabbed the pen, and said, "I've got one."

"Dude!" Wally said indignantly catching himself from falling off his chair just in time, "Where did you come from?"

Robin ignored him and continued to write.

"Is it too much to ask for a little warning before you randomly pop up at someone's side, nearly scaring them to death?"

Robin looked up from the paper, and giving Wally a look that said he thought he was crazy, he said, "I've been here the whole time KF," he laughed, "X-ray vision? Really?" Superboy chuckled, and Wally groaned. Robin wrote a few final words, laid the pen down, and added, "Besides, you shouldn't need a warning. You should've known I was there. Constant vigilance!"

Wally scoffed, "Constant vigilance? Who are you? Mad-Eye Moody?" He picked up the list to read Rob's addition.

_He's classy._

_Kal is seriously the classiest guy I know. He even knows how to disobey direct orders with class. Direct quote: "Apologies my king, but no." He breaks the rules so politely that he can't really be faulted. That is a skill I would love to have._

Wally laughed. "So true," he said, "and that reminds me…" He added a ninth:

_Even his name is classy: Aqualad._

_Anyone with 'lad' as part of their name is classy. 'Aqualad' sounds so much cooler than 'Aquaboy' or 'Aquakid'. Plus, it sounds British, and everyone knows the British are classy. Maybe I should be 'Flashlad'... Maybe not. I'll consider it._

Artemis, who had been reading over his shoulder, smirked, "That's stupid Wally."

"No it's not," Wally defended. "Think about it. 'Aqualad' is way more awesome than 'Aquaboy' or 'Aquakid'. I'd like to see you try coming up with a better reason."

"I was talking about changing your name to 'Flashlad'. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard… but fine, I will think of a better one."

With a flourish, she wrote a 10th reason.

Robin peered over her arm from where he was sitting cross-legged on the counter, then turned to Wally: "She's right. Her reason is better."

Scowling, KF punched his friend in the gut (Robin didn't react), snatched the list to read her add-on, and grumbled, "Shut up Rob."

_He's an awesome strategist._

_Kaldur always seems to know what to do. He makes up crazy good plans on the fly. It's incredible. He never hesitates and is always 100% sure of what he is doing. It's very reassuring._

"There," Artemis said with satisfaction, "10 is a good list."

Wally frowned at the list and shook his head, "No. I feel like it's still missing something. These 10 don't do Kaldur's bossness true justice. I don't know what's missing though."

Artemis scoffed and put her hands on her hips, "10 is a perfect number of reasons. 11 is just weird. Plus, 'bossness' is not a word."

"The existence of 'bossness' aside, I still think the list isn't quite complete," Wally countered. "Yes, it makes sense to stop at 10, but these things are only part of what makes K so cool. We're missing a key factor. Think people think!" he demanded, speeding to grab a bag of chips from the cabinet and racing back to his seat.

They said nothing for five whole minutes. The only sounds were the rustle of the chip bag, Superboy pouring himself a glass of milk, and Artemis absently tapping a finger on the counter.

"Hello, Megan! I've got it!" M'gann exclaimed excitedly, startling the rest of them out of their reverie. Grabbing the pen, she jotted down number 11. The rest gathered around her to view her handiwork.

"Solid," Wally said.

"Yeah. It's perfect Meg," Artemis agreed.

"It's pretty awful," Robin said seriously.

They all turned questioningly toward him. "What?" Superboy asked, "You don't like it?"

"No, I do. I said it was awful," Robin said. When everyone continued to give him blank stares, he sighed and explained, "It's a good thing. See, if you break 'awful' in two, you get 'aw' and 'ful'. 'Awe'-'full'. Full of awe. It's pretty much the same thing as awesome. How is that _not_ a good thing?"

They stared at him. Then, Wally snorted and said, "Dude. That will never catch on."

Robin hopped off the counter indignantly, "Well it should."

Laughing, Wally speed out of the kitchen calling behind him, "Whatever Boy Dictionary. Let's see how 'awful' you are at Halo."

"You're on," Robin yelled as he vaulted the counter to follow.

Grabbing a cookie as he left, Superboy made his way into the next room as well saying, "I've got winner."

Deciding they did not want to watch the Halo competition, the girls left to walk on the beach, leaving the list lying on the counter.

Several hours, games of Halo, and empty pizza boxes later, the list lay under the pile of wreckage from the battleground normal people would call dinner. At the Mountain, however, everyone had to fight Wally's metabolism just to get one slice of pizza. It gets ugly. It's never done until Superboy has broken at least five plates and someone is cut by a batarang. Kaldur sighed as he took in the mess. He was always the one that had to clean up. Tonight was no different, but beneath the piles of trash, he found a surprise. The frown of confusion that started on his face soon changed into a laughing smile, or as much of one as ever graced his features. He took in the words crafted by five distinct handwriting styles, then glanced fondly to the couch where five figures were draped unceremoniously over each other, laying there in a pizza induced coma. Maybe he'd get on their case about being cleanlier tomorrow.

Sweeping the remaining waste in the trash can, Kaldur took the list and walked to his room. Tucking it under his picture of Garth and Tula, only the last, and his favorite, reason was exposed.

_He's impossibly patient._

_He puts up with every one of us. All of us have our quirky sides, some of which can be rather obnoxious or annoying, but he never complains. He simply takes the worst with the best and patiently waits for us to come to our senses. He never loses his temper with us, and that makes him a wonderful leader. Thanks, K. _

_M'gann, Superboy, Artemis, Wally, and Rob_


End file.
